Page 2

Garth ignored Striker’s antics and began to remove weapons from the crate nearest him. He lifted out a Stuart Mitchell survival knife and ran his fingers over it gently. “Oh, I don’t have one of these .”

Boomer laughed. “Is it me or is Garth handling that like it’s a woman? He might need a private moment too .”

Garth’s eyes crinkled with mirth. “Gentle strokes bring out the best in everything .”

Malik reconsidered the nap mandate. Not that it would do any good. They’d all ignore him anyway. They obeyed orders when they felt like it. He missed the good old days when he’d issue a mandate and thousands obeyed .

His comm unit made a light noise before Corbin’s voice came through .

“Anything of interest discovered there yet?” asked the Brit .

“Not unless you count seeing Striker’s junk as interesting,” said Malik as he gave Striker a stern look .

“Do I want to know?” asked Corbin, sounding as English as ever. “Wait. I am quite positive I do not want to know .”

The Scotsman finally pulled up his pants, looking as if he didn’t have a care in the world. He then reached into a pouch in his tactical gear meant for additional ammunition and pulled out a flask .

Malik rubbed his temple, a low-grade headache setting in. At least the flask was better than smoking a cigar while standing near explosives. “Captain, how is it you haven’t killed Striker yet ?”

“Pretty much a daily challenge,” replied Corbin .

“Och, I heard that,” said Striker before taking a swig from his flask .

He then handed the flask to Duke, who took a sip too .

“There is a hell of a lot of firepower here, but nothing noteworthy. The clean-up team hasn’t arrived yet so we’re just holding down the fort until they get here, all the while waiting for it to come out that this is a trap. Find anything where you are ?”

Corbin sighed over the line. “No. But we did find a large quantity of peculiar medical supplies. They’re all stamped with Donavon Dynamics. We’re finding more and more here, but nothing that sticks out as what we were searching for. I put a call into a contact I have on the human side of things. He said no reports of missing shipments have come in from the company .”

“Maybe they don’t realize it’s missing yet,” said Malik .

“Possibly,” replied Corbin before going silent for a bit. “We’ll be here for a couple of hours yet and then we can meet to discuss our findings. Be sure there isn’t any threat there before leaving the clean-up team. They may be trained operatives but let’s be honest, the majority of them aren’t really fighters .”

“Will do,” he said, having long since given up on proper radio communication. He was too old to bother .

The flask was now with Rurik, who handed it back to Striker with a nod .

“Corbin wants us to hang here a bit and be sure the clean-up team doesn’t require a clean-up team,” said Malik .

Striker groaned. “I’m sweating my balls off in here. Can we wait outside ?”

“Your balls were just aired out. You’ll be fine for a bit.” Malik was about to sit on a crate when he heard the sound of approaching vehicles. His shifter senses homed in and a feeling of unease came over him .

“Sounds like the clean-up team is here,” said Striker, capping his flask .

Malik gave the hand signal for silence and Duke grunted .

“I really don’t like your hinky vibes, Tut. They never lead to anything good,” said Duke .

Garth went to a side window and peered out. He then chambered a round in the weapon he was holding. “Want the good news or the bad news ?”

Boomer laughed, finding humor in odd situations. “The bad .”

“We’re standing in the equivalent of a giant powder keg and that isn’t the clean-up crew out there, armed and ready to start shooting in here,” said Garth evenly .

Duke eyed the man. “There is a good side to this somewhere ?”

“Yes. We have more firepower,” said Garth, motioning to the crates. “If we don’t blow up first. Anyone here able to survive being blown to bits ?”

They all looked at Malik as if awaiting his answer to the question .

“What?” he demanded .

“Well, can you survive that?” asked Boomer. “Inquiring minds want to know. When you’re as old as time, does it give you extra superpowers ?”

With a roll of his eyes, Malik joined Garth near the window to survey the situation. When he saw eight vehicles forming a barricade of sorts with men standing behind them, aiming at the building with more than just guns, he rubbed his temple again. “Sure. Why not? Garth ?”

Garth flashed a wide smile, clearly loving the fact they were going to get into a firefight. “Rurik and I will take the east corner .”

“Och, I’m ready to be done with this shite and find a bonnie lass to bed up with for the night,” said Striker, taking the rocket launcher from Duke. He then stood behind a crate full of explosives and lined up to take a shot at the side of the building. His intention clearly was to shoot through the thin metal wall of the warehouse and out at the men .

Boomer tackled him and rolled, taking the launcher with him. Since Boomer’s nickname had been born out of his love of blowing things up, he rarely was the voice of reason when it came to anything that went boom. “Dude, no. Just no .”

Striker grumbled. “Kitty, you suck all the fun out of everything .”

“Guys, try to act like trained professionals here,” said Malik as the sound of a rocket being launched at them came from outside. The men shared a look and then ran in the direction of the exit, each one knowing they needed to get out of the area with the explosives .

They only just made it out of the building when there was a loud noise followed quickly by a series of explosions. The force of them blew Malik up into the air as flames licked past him. He struck something massive and it moved with him. He and the object tumbled, taking turns skidding against the ground before finally coming to a stop. Disoriented, Malik tried to figure out why he didn’t feel ground beneath him and what the smell was that now surrounded him .

Garth was suddenly there, beating out the flames on Malik with his shirt, his vest, and gear discarded. Someone was yelling at him but he couldn’t make out what they were saying. It took him a second to realize that someone was Duke, who was under him and pissed .

“Get the fuck off me, Tut,” snapped the surly wolf-shifter, using a nickname Malik barely tolerated. He was born in ancient Egypt and had been alive for thousands of years. The men enjoyed teasing him because of it. They didn’t know the half of it. If they did, they’d never let him live it down .

He wouldn’t have minded the nickname so much but he’d never really cared for Tutankhamun. He’d found the boy king to be spoiled. But it could have been worse. The guys could have decided to call him Amenhotep, or Akhenaten, as the pharaoh later referred to himself. That pharaoh had been so full of himself that one would have thought him an actual god .

He wasn’t .

Not by a long shot .

Malik would know .

Malik rolled off Duke and groaned, the smell of burning flesh filling his nose. Lifting his arm, he saw just how much of his flesh was burnt. He lifted his head partially and spotted Striker meandering over to them. The man still had a rocket launcher over his shoulder, which meant the Scot had delayed escaping the warehouse to grab the thing .

“I wish I had a camera. That compromising position you were both in was Asshole of the Week worthy,” said Striker, his Scottish accent thicker than normal, indicating he was worked up .

The Asshole of the Week Award was one no one really wanted to be the recipient of. While it wasn’t official, it was an award all the men had won at least once. It basically commemorated anything exceedingly stupid or funny that the operatives did. Often the men tried to find creative ways to set up situations in hopes they could catch another operative in a situation that was award worthy. Not that anyone needed help doing something stupid .

“Son of a bitch!” shouted Duke as he came off the ground with a huge snarl. “That hurt !”

“You smell like a roasted pig,” said Rurik with a grin before turning and firing at the row of vehicles as well .

Malik sprang to his feet and did the same, ignoring the bite of pain in his arm. He didn’t need to look to be told the flesh was burnt away and pieces of his shirt were stuck to him. It wasn’t his first brush with fire. It wouldn’t be his last. The arm would heal within an hour. The shirt was pretty much toast .

He shot at the bad guys, taking three out in succession .

Boomer lifted his weapon and doubled-tapped it in the direction of the vehicles. Another bad guy fell to the ground .

Rurik sprayed gunfire in the direction of the dicks who had nearly blown them all to bits .

Boomer snorted. “Romanov, you missed one .”

“My count has to be like fifty,” said Striker proudly. “To your one, kitty .”

“I took out that guard team at the point of entrance when we first got here,” returned Boomer .

The two then launched into an argument over who had killed more enemy combatants .

Malik glanced at Duke and shook his head. “They make me tired .”

“Join the fucking club, Tut,” said Duke .

Striker fired a rocket at the vehicles, blowing up one and starting a chain reaction. He flashed a smile. “I win, yet again .”

Duke watched as the last bad guy fell. “Corbin is going to be pissed. He says we need to learn to be more low- key .”

Malik noticed the giant plume of black smoke rolling high into the air from the burning warehouse. It would more than likely be seen from miles and miles away. “Oh, this is totally low- key .”

Boomer grinned. “Yeah, I’m sure this is no way signaling to more asshole dick arms dealers to head this way .”

“At this rate, we’ll be here all night,” snarled Duke. “I fucking hate arms dealers. Also, I do smell like barbeque. Dammit !”